Doomsday First Appearance: Man of Steel #17 and #18 Value

Doomsday's first appearance is a cameo in Superman: The Man of Steel #17, cover-dated November 1992; his first full appearance is the next issue, Superman: The Man of Steel #18 (December 1992) (Wikipedia). He was created by Dan Jurgens, Brett Breeding, Louise Simonson, Jerry Ordway and Roger Stern, and he is the villain of The Death of Superman.

PriceCharting values retrieved September 25, 2026:

• The Man of Steel #17 (cameo): ungraded $12.16; graded 4.0 $14.58; 6.0 $22.98; 8.0 $40.49; 9.2 $53.00; 9.8 $101.20 (about one sale a month)
• The Man of Steel #18 (full): ungraded $9.86 (about one sale a day); graded 4.0 $10.57; 6.0 $10.60; 8.0 $24.10; 9.2 $40.00; 9.8 $92.78 (about one sale a week)
• Superman #75 (the death of Superman): ungraded $10.92; graded 8.0 $30.95; 9.2 $54.00; 9.8 $197.75

The cameo issue is listed higher than the full appearance at every grade PriceCharting shows, the opposite of what many collectors expect; a Reddit thread in the top results argues over which of the two counts. #18 trades far more often, so its figures are steadier.

Doomsday. In Superman #75 (January 1993) he and Superman kill each other in a fight across Metropolis, which made Doomsday Superman's best-known physical opponent (Wikipedia). See our Superman page for Superman's own first appearance.

Neither, in the comics. Doomsday was engineered on prehistoric Krypton by a scientist named Bertron: an infant was left to die in a harsh environment, its remains were cloned into a stronger version, and the process was repeated again and again (Wikipedia). In The New 52 continuity Zod once fought him on Krypton, a battle that killed thousands of Kryptonians.

The mix-up comes from the film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, where Lex Luthor creates Doomsday from General Zod's body and his own blood (Wikipedia).

In one story, yes. Wikipedia says that in the Hunter/Prey miniseries Doomsday had faced and beaten Darkseid in single combat, even though Darkseid was using the Omega Force. See our Darkseid page.

• Indicia: the small print on the first page or inside cover gives the title, issue number, date and publisher; reprints and facsimiles say so there.
• Cover price and barcode: a price or barcode that did not exist in the cover year means a later edition.
• Paper: decades-old newsprint tans at the edges; bright white pages on an old date are a warning sign.
• Restoration: color touch, trimmed edges and replaced covers are common on expensive keys; a grading service such as CGC can detect them.

Shoot the front cover flat and straight on in even light, then the indicia and the back cover. The Man of Steel #17 and #18 share the same masthead, so make sure the issue number is sharp in the photo. ComicLens reads the title, issue number and cover art from the photo, and there are free scans every day.

Research and drafting were assisted by AI and checked line by line against the sources listed on this page. Prices are the figures shown by the named source on the date given; they change with the market, and a grade that trades about once a year can move a lot on a single sale.